Andy Townsend
 Townsend signing an autograph at the 2010 FA Cup Semifinal. | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Andrew David Townsend | ||
| Date of birth | 23 July 1963 | ||
| Place of birth | Maidstone, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Welling United | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1980–1984 | Welling United | 105 | (n/a) |
| 1984–1985 | Weymouth | 40 | (16) |
| 1985–1988 | Southampton | 83 | (5) |
| 1988–1990 | Norwich City | 71 | (8) |
| 1990–1993 | Chelsea | 110 | (12) |
| 1993–1997 | Aston Villa | 134 | (8) |
| 1997–1999 | Middlesbrough | 77 | (3) |
| 1999–2000 | West Bromwich Albion | 18 | (0) |
| Total | 638 | (52) | |
| National team | |||
| 1994 | Republic of Ireland B | 1 | (0) |
| 1989–1997 | Republic of Ireland | 70 | (7) |
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. | |||
Andrew "Andy" David Townsend (born 23 July 1963) is a retired footballer who played in two World Cups for the Republic of Ireland and is now a television and radio pundit
Starting his career at Welling United and then Weymouth, Townsend came to prominence at age 21 when he signed with Southampton. In 1988 he moved on to Norwich City, before joining Chelsea two years later. In 1993 he signed with Aston Villa and enjoyed four successful years before his transfer to Middlesbrough. His final club was West Bromwich Albion, where he retired in 2000.
Following his retirement as a player he became a football pundit, most notably with ITV Sport
Club career
Townsend was born in Maidstone, Kent, but grew up in Bexley, where he attended Upton Primary School in Bexleyheath, followed by Bexleyheath School.
He began his playing career in August 1980 with Welling United in the Athenian League, while working as a computer operator for Greenwich Borough Council in south-east London.[1] After making 105 appearances for Welling, he was signed by Weymouth in March 1984 for £13,500.[2]
In January 1985, he was signed by Lawrie McMenemy at Southampton for £35,000[1] and made his professional debut at home to Aston Villa on 20 April 1985 as Southampton qualified for Europe, only to be banned in the aftermath of the Heysel Stadium disaster.[2]
Over the next season, he was in and out of the team (then managed by Chris Nicholl) but broke his leg in a pre-season friendly against his old club Weymouth in August 1986.[1] He fought his way back to fitness and rejoined the side the following January.
In the 1987–88 he was a virtual ever-present, playing alongside Jimmy Case and Glenn Cockerill in the Southampton midfield. He was a hard-tackling, hard-working midfielder with an eye for goal. It was a shock, therefore, when Nicholl sold him to First Division rivals Norwich City in August 1988, for a fee of £300,000.[1]
He made his debut as a substitute against Middlesbrough on 3 September 1988, before replacing the suspended Trevor Putney for his first full appearance in a 3–1 win over Spurs on 22 October.[2] He retained his place in the Norwich midfield and ended the season with 36 league appearances (5 as substitute) with five goals.[2] He also made six FA Cup appearances with two goals against Port Vale in the Third Round on 7 January 1989. Under manager Dave Stringer, he was a member of the Canaries' 1988–89 side that finished fourth in the top flight and reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup. At the season's end, Townsend was shortlisted for the PFA Players' Player of the Year award, which was won by Mark Hughes.
Norwich made a handsome profit when they let Townsend join Chelsea for £1,200,000 in July 1990.[2]
After making a total of 138 appearances for Chelsea, scoring 12 goals but winning no trophies (they never finished higher than 11th in the league while he was there), he transferred to Aston Villa in July 1993 for £2.1million.[2]
He finally won some silverware when Villa won the 1994 League Cup, beating Manchester United 3–1. He captained Villa when they reclaimed the trophy in 1996 with a 3–0 victory over Leeds United.
In August 1997, just after the start of the 1997–98 season, he transferred to Bryan Robson's Middlesbrough for £500,000 having made 134 league appearances for the Villans, scoring eight league goals.[2]
He made 37 appearances in his first season on Teesside, scoring twice as Boro' won promotion to the Premier League. In the 1998–99 season, he formed a useful partnership with Paul Gascoigne as Middlesbrough finished comfortably in mid-table in their first season back in the Premiership.[2]
In the following season, he found it harder to get into the first team and on 17 September 1999 he moved down a division to West Bromwich Albion for £50,000. Townsend's high wage demands prevented a move back to Norwich or a loan spell with non-league Boston United.[2]
In his one season at West Bromwich Albion he only made 17 league appearances before a recurrent knee injury forced his retirement in July 2000, after a season in which Albion narrowly avoided relegation to Division Two.[3]
"I was very flattered by Albion's offer. I thought long and hard about it but I just felt that if I am going to go down the road of management I am going to have to do things my own way."
On 21 April 2016 Townsend join Bolton Wanderers as a consultant. [4]
International career
His contribution to Norwich's successful season saw Andy selected for the Republic of Ireland, making his debut against France in February 1989. He qualified for Ireland due to his Irish family heritage.'[5]
He played in the next year's World Cup, in Italy, where he played in all five of Ireland's matches. They reached the quarter-finals, the country's strongest ever campaign. The Irish drew their three group matches – against England, Egypt and Netherlands. Scoring a penalty in the shoot-out with Romania, his country were eventually sunk by a Salvatore Schillaci goal for the hosts. They had conceded just three goals in those five games.
He was captain of the Ireland squad for the 1994 World Cup. All four teams of Group E finished on four points, they got their revenge on the Italians, but were defeated by Mexico and drew with Norway. Ireland lost 2–0 to the Dutch at the Citrus Bowl in the knock-out stage.[6]
On Sunday 22 2015, Andy Townsend was inducted into the FAI Hall of Fame.[7]
Broadcasting career
Townsend's most prominent role was as part of ITV Sport's live Champions League, FA Cup and England internationals coverage. He took over from Ron Atkinson as the channel's lead co-commentator, forming a long-running partnership with main commentator Clive Tyldesley, as well as appearing as a studio pundit. He co-hosted Talksport's Weekend Sports Breakfast on Sundays with Mike Parry, and hosted the station's drive-time show on Fridays. He also hosted the mid morning discussion on talkSPORT from 10am to 1pm from Monday to Friday, having replaced Jon Gaunt, who was sacked for calling a guest a Nazi.[8] He has left the station because he no longer wants to commute from his Midlands home to the London studio.
He also hosts ITV1's regional programme Soccer Night, alongside Peter Beagrie. He has also presented BBC Radio 5 Live and written columns for the Daily Mail. He has also been the commentator on several EA football games, including 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa and most recently FIFA 12.,[9] FIFA 13 "FIFA 14 and FIFA 15."
Townsend was part of ITV's coverage of the Premiership after they won the rights from the BBC to show top flight football on Saturday evening. The coverage was heavily criticized, particularly a segment called "Townsend's tactics truck" where Townsend reviewed highlights of games with a player that had been involved from an outside broadcast truck.[10]
In January 2015 ITV confirmed that Townsend would not be retained by the broadcaster after the expiry of his contract in the summer of 2015, with the channel having lost Champions League broadcasting rights.[11]
Personal life
He is the son of former Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace defender Don Townsend.[12]
In May 1999, the press reported that he and Middlesbrough teammate Paul Gascoigne had been stopped by police on suspicion of using an air-rifle to shoot at wild animals on a "hunting expedition".[2]
Business interests
Townsend is a consultant for Harlequin Property, where he helps set up soccer schools at their Caribbean resorts.[13] The company's proposed investment into Port Vale had set in motion plans for him to become a football advisor at the club,[14] though nothing was to come of these talks.
Charitable activities
He is patron of the George Coller Memorial Fund. He ran in the Great North Run in 2007, finishing in a time of 2 hours and 20 minutes.[15]
Statistics
International caps
- Scores and results list Republic of Ireland's goal tally first.
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Honours
- Football League Cup winner: 1994 & 1996
- Football League First Division runner-up: 1997–98
- Football League Cup runner-up: 1998
- Individual
- Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame member
- Chelsea Player of the Year: 1990-91
- FAI Hall of Fame: Inducted 2015[16]
References
- 1 2 3 4 Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk (2003). In That Number – A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC. Hagiology Publishing. p. 589. ISBN 0-9534474-3-X.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Andy Townsend". ex-canaries.co.uk. Archived from the original on 30 October 2009. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
- 1 2 "Townsend retires". BBC Sport. 7 July 2000. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36101016
- ↑ Dunphy, Eamonn (22 May 1994). "Football: Why Charlton's men are the guardians of Irish identity.". The Independent (London). Retrieved 13 November 2011.
- ↑ "Netherlands – Republic of Ireland". fifa.com. Retrieved 20 October 2009.
- ↑ http://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/andy-townsend-speaks-to-fai-tv
- ↑ Oliver Luft (16 January 2009). "Townsend and Parry to replace Jon Gaunt on TalkSport". London: Guardian. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
- ↑ Trapara, Nemanja (30 June 2011). "FIFA 12 Broadcast Announcers Revealed". EA Sports. Electronic Arts. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
- ↑ Jonathan Rendall (3 October 2004). "OSM: What makes a perfect pundit". London: Guardian. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
- ↑ "ITV confirms Andy Townsend’s contract will not be renewed next season". theguardian.com. 8 January 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
- ↑ "Townsend brings Irish career to a well-timed close". Independent. 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
- ↑ Shaw, Steve (19 October 2009). "Port Vale: Townsend no threat to Adams, says Ames". The Sentinel. Archived from the original on 22 October 2009. Retrieved 19 October 2009.
- ↑ "Townsend set for Port Vale role". BBC Sport. 19 October 2009. Archived from the original on 22 October 2009. Retrieved 19 October 2009.
- ↑ George Coller Memorial Fund patrons Archived 13 January 2005 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ http://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/andy-townsend-speaks-to-fai-tv
External links
- Andy Townsend career statistics at Soccerbase
- Andy Townsend at the Internet Movie Database
- Republic of Ireland profile
- Profile at talkSPORT
- Profile at The Gordon Poole Agency
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Kevin Richardson |
Aston Villa captain 1995 - 1997 |
Succeeded by Gareth Southgate |
| Preceded by Nigel Pearson |
Middlesbrough captain 1998 - 1999 |
Succeeded by Paul Ince |
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